the Dominion of the Union
by BookwormFangirl3712
Summary: Benders have managed to survive to the 21st century, but that doesn't mean it's been easy. A community of the top, most Elite people of the world, known as the Union, is trying to take over the world. And they're trying to use the benders to help them. However, the elementalists won't go down without a fight. Especially this band of benders. And things are about to get ugly.
1. Chapter 1

Bzzt. Eliana screamed, struggling against the restraints. She knew what they were planning on doing—torturing her until she talked. Or her heart stopped. She knew to them it didn't necessarily matter whether she talked or not, it would simply save them time. She knew there was a long list of back up benders they could easily torture until they spoke. But she refused to talk. She would not allow them to get to her. Ever.  
"So, did you want to answer the question now?" Julius asked, and although Eliana couldn't even gather up enough energy to open her mouth, she could hear the menacing smirk in his voice.  
"Well?"  
Silence.  
Julius sighed. "You won't be able to take the pain much longer, Eliana. It goes against your nature as an Earth Bender. If you don't speak soon, you'll be dead in the next couple shocks."  
She knew, of course, that he was right. They'd caught her in one of the rebellion's strikes against the union, and immediately dragged her out to the middle of the ocean, where her skills were annoyingly useless. Just to add to her already complicated and deadly enough situation, they were torturing her with electricity. Yet another element she could not master. She knew what was coming, could already feel her heart slowly beginning to fail. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.  
Bzzzt.  
Her body shook at random intervals with the electricity traveling through her veins, their power far beyond her body's ability to withstand. For a heavenly moment, her heart stopped and she was out, before she was shocked back into consciousness. Barely aware of the scream escaping her mouth, her last word before her death was her daughter's name.

-  
"So remind me again why we're here?" Naz asked her friend, who was just returning to the pool with two beers. Kassandra smiled, handing her a beer. "To have some _fun._ You know there's such a thing, right?" She joked, clicking her bottle against her friend's and taking a drink. Naz smiled and did the same.  
"I know how to have fun," She argued, and Kassy laughed.  
"I know."  
They sat for a few minutes in silence, watching the other party-goes toss beach balls and wrestle and drink. Music boomed from a speaker off to the side.  
"So how'd you manage the invite?" Naz asked, and Kassy smirked against her beer. "I didn't." She said, taking another drink. Naz rolled her eyes, and the two girls caught the eyes of a boy watching them. Naz smiled flirtily and waved, and Kassandra just looked down at her drink before taking another sip.  
"I hate how you're so much better at flirting than me," Kassy muttered, and Naz laughed.  
"Practice, child. It's about knowing you have the upper hand and being confident with it."  
"Yeah, but the problem with that is how I don't have the upper hand."  
Naz rolled her eyes, took a sip of her drink, and lowered her voice to a whisper.  
"If you wanted to you could control every ounce of blood in that boy's body."  
Kassandra paled. "I hate talking about that. You know I hate it. It was an accident that one time and I'm never doing it again."  
Naz smiled apologetically. "I didn't mean it like that—"  
"I know how you meant it, and the thought kind of disturbs me." Kassy snapped, then sighed.  
"You pissed?" Naz asked, and the other girl shook her head, taking a drink.  
"No. Just wishing that it wasn't true and I could deny it."  
"Hey," Naz said, in an attempt to cheer the younger girl up, "_embrace it._ Girl, waterbending is a badass skill, alright?" The older girl straightened her back pride fully, "Almost as badass as airbending."  
Kassy laughed, and just then Naz's phone chimed. The girl sighed, drying her hand off with the towel before digging her phone out of her beach bag. She sighed, casting her _'Just guess who it is' _look to Kassandra before flipping her singing phone open.  
"What?" Naz asked into the phone, her annoyance evident. As she listened to what Jokku said on the other line, her brow furrowed. She sighed.  
"Alright, we're coming now." More listening. "Yeah, she's with me right now. I'm not an amateur at this, you know. We'll be fine." She closed the phone and began to get out of the pool, wrapping her towel around her. Kassandra sighed, following suit.  
"What _now?_" She asked, and Naz sighed.  
"911. The Union. Jokku says they sent at _least _two agents _here_. He's announcing a lockdown. Now."  
"Here, at the _party _here?"  
"Yupp, now let's get out of here before they find us."  
"Um, Naz?"  
Naz, who was already in her shorts and shirt and anxiously tying her hair up in a ponytail, looked up at Kassandra. "Yeah?"  
Kassy pointed to the other side of the pool, where two tall men in black suits were staring at them, making Kassandra shift uncomfortably, and struggle to dress even faster.  
"I get the feeling they already have."  
Naz cursed and grabbed her bag, making a beeline to the party host's house's parking lot, rummaging for her keys in her bag as she hauled Kassy by the arm along with her.  
"Ow, Ow! I can walk on my own, no need to dig your nails into my skin. Ow!" She kept whining, and Naz rolled her eyes, clicking the button on her keys to unlock the car. She risked a quick glance behind her and was surprised to see the men weren't trailing her, which of course just made her even more nervous. Sure, she'd been in a situation like this before, but never just her and someone else. Especially one of the youngest of the gang. She took a deep breath and climbed into the driver's seat of the car as Kassandra hopped into the passenger seat. She twisted the key in its hole, and...nothing happened. Desperate, she twisted again.  
"Well come on, we kind of need to start driving away," Kassandra said.  
"You don't think I _realize_ that, Kass? The freakin' car won't start!" Naz snapped, and Kassy's eyes widened.  
"We're screwed. I told you we should've ridden Bora."  
"Oh sure Kassy, because my flying bison wouldn't have attracted _any_ attention at all." Naz had abandoned all hope that the car would start and had turned to face the younger girl. She could only think of one thing to do, but she knew it was risky, and Jokku would have her head if he knew what she was planning. But hey, desperate times called for desperate measures. Even if they were suicidal desperate measures. She unbuckled and threw the car door open, hopping out. Kassandra stared at her, wide eyed.  
"Wh-what are you doing?"  
"Going to show those douche bags what happens when you mess with a descendant of Aang."  
Kassy gaped at her. "We can call Jokku! _Get back here!_" Naz sighed and turned to glare at Kassy, before bending the air to snatch the phone out of Kassy's hand, mid-call. The younger girl stared at Naz.  
"We are not calling Jokku and the rest to come to our rescue. _We can do this on our own._" When Kassandra didn't make a move to join Naz outside, she pursed her lips.  
"Fine. I'll do it on my own." She swiveled around, using her ability to slam the door as she stomped off, back in the direction of the party.  
"Ugh!" Kassandra exclaimed, slamming her foot against the dashboard and kicking her head back in frustration. Sighing, she unbuckled.  
"_Naz,"_ She hissed, jumping out of the car and chasing after her friend, not even bothering to close the door behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

When Kassy caught up to Naz, she was picking her way through the crowd of people, making her way to the two men. Kassandra grabbed her friend's arm—bad move. Naz must have really been on edge, because she twisted around and made a shoving gesture with her hand, sending Kassandra sprawling on the ground.  
"Oops." Naz said when she finally got a look at Kassandra.  
_"_Yeah, _oops._"  
Naz was too busy helping the other girl up for either of them to notice the two men that had walked up behind them and were watching them expectantly.  
"Good day, girls."  
The two girls whirled to look behind them, and Kassy's eyes widened.  
"Oh, no need to be scared. We won't hurt you," one of the men said, reaching out to grab Kassandra by the arm. She jerked away and flung her hands toward him, sending about half the pool jumping out to drown the two men. They stood up moments later without showing any sign of difficulty or discomfort. Kassandra shifted uncomfortably and turned to smirk at Naz. "If things go bad, I'm blaming you."  
Then two men arose, both sets of their beady eyes resting on the younger girl.  
"You should not have done that, silly little girl."  
She let out a whine-like noise. "I'm not a little girl, dumbass. I'm a waterbender." She raised her hands to summon more of the water out from the pool, but the second man had a gun out in a moment's notice and shot, a dart imbedding itself in Kassy's side. She gasped in pain and yanked the dart out, turning to glare at the shooter.  
"You stupid, ignorant, son of a—" She interrupted her sentence to yawn, quite loudly, before falling to the ground. The man smirked.  
"Attitude gets you nowhere." He then turned to Naz. "Now then, you can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which do you prefer?"  
Naz glowered at the offenders, eyes widened, and a plan clicked into place in her head. She grinned internally, but sighed in defeat to the men. Just as they moved towards her, she shouted as she shoved her arms forward forcefully, throwing the two men a good 10 yards away, both slamming their heads against the side of the house. "Come on Kassy, wake uppp…" She muttered, anxiously shaking the younger girl. Kassandra shifted on the ground, yawning in her sleep.  
"Mmm….No Lynn, I don't want to ride a unicorn. Horns. Sharp. The union will find us with the dinosaur-banana tracking devices…"  
Naz rolled her eyes and used the bent the air so that Kassy was levitating a few feet above the ground. She looked around and barely noticed the other party goes screaming and running like a crazed mess. Naz sighed, unsure how to control the mob. Her only idea was pretty stupid, but humans were stupid. She whistled to get everyone's attention. Everyone turned to her, their eyes scared.  
"Hey everyone, listen up! You just witnessed an Elements show! Now, no need to be frightened, all that was an act! We're this show that travels the States, using tricky little maneuvers to make it look like we can bend the elements. It's really great if you guys ever feel like coming to one of the shows!" The men were coming towards them. "And now we've gotta go! Anyone feel like helping some elementalists out and giving us a ride home?" She asked anxiously.  
"I'll do it." Someone said from the back of the crowd, and Naz tensed.  
"Shit" She muttered, watching Jokku and Lynn emerge from the crowd.  
"Moneys like bananas. Heehee, mokeys. Oh magical dinosaur tracking device, don't hurt my petunias. They're such pretty flowers…" Kassy muttered, and Naz smacked herself in the forehead.  
She hadn't even realized how much the two men were closing in until she felt a violent hand grip her arm and yank her aside, tossing her to the ground. She lost her concentration on levitating Kassandra, who fell to the ground, hard.  
"Naz!" Lynn shouted.  
Then several things happened at once. Jokku shouted in anger, and the two men went up in flames. At the same time, Lynn had run up to the unconscious waterbender on the ground. She closed her eyes and touched her fingers to the ground. A crack began to form, growing bigger and bigger as it ran in the ground toward the men, who'd jumped into the pool to extinguish the flames. All the teens at the party were a crazed mob, running like they were on fire too. Which of course they weren't. Jokku wouldn't have been so sloppy. The crack reached the pool, and the water rushed through the crevice in the ground. Naz, on the ground where the man had thrown her, rolled to her side and coughed. She stood up shakily before shuffling her way to the edge of the pool. She used her energy to lift the two men, now burnt and wet useless lumps of barely living meat, up into the air. 20 yards….50…..easily 200 yards up into the air, before releasing her grip on them, allowing them to plummet to their deaths.

-  
"Would you like to tell me just what you hoped to accomplish by not telling me you were in trouble?" Jokku asked Kassandra, setting a cup of tea down in front of her and taking a seat beside her on the kitchen table. She wrapped her hands around the mug and stared into it dejectedly. She sighed.  
"I was going to call you, but Naz wanted to show you she could handle things on her own."  
Jokku scoffed. "Look how well that went."  
"_We would've been fine._" She said, but even she knew she was wrong.  
"Well, you do realize that this just means we have to move _again_, right?"  
Kassy sighed. "I hate this, you know."  
Jokku pursed his lips and stood up. "Usually I'd tell you it's not your fault, except this time it is."  
He left the kitchen and Kassandra exhaled angrily, tossing the mug across the room, where it crashed into the sink. The noise must have alerted some of the others, because in came Andrew and Kye.  
"Kassandra, is it true you almost got caught today?" The thirteen year old asked, and Kassy sighed. She noticed Andrew was also watching her, waiting for a response, and she moaned, letting her head bang down on the kitchen table.  
"Yes, it's true, and it's the most embarrassing thing ever. I mean _really_, a freaking DART?" She said, kicking one of the other chairs. Andrew's lip quirked up into a smile.  
"Must have been a pretty sick dart to take you down, miss Water-bender supreme."  
Kassandra smirked. "Don't tell Aya that."  
"Uhh…..I think I may just have to now that you asked I don't."  
She laughed. "Fine then do it. I don't care either way."  
"My sister's pissed, you know, that this is all her fault."  
Kassandra turned to glare at Andrew. "Your sister can get over it, because it _is_ her fault. I voted we call you guys, but she felt like she had to prove herself or something. Look where that got us."  
Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You're seriously pissed."  
Kass sighed. "No, I'm not. I've just got Jokku up my ass, making me feel as if I just single-handedly destroyed the world, and it's seriously downing my vibe."  
"Kassandra?" Kye asked, his eyes wide.  
"Yeah?" She responded.  
"Why'd they almost get you? Didn't you fight them off?"  
She blushed and looked down. "Well, yeah, but…." She looked up at Andrew for back-up, but instead found him also staring at her expectantly and sighed.  
"Look, if you want to survive, there's something you need to know: We aren't invincible. In fact, we are _very _vulnerable. If we forget that Kye, then we're orchestrating our own defeat. Too much pride, and one day it'll bite you in the ass."


	3. Chapter 3

_Okay, before I go further into the story, allow me to introduce the characters you've met. Kassandra. She has the water bending abilities, allowing her to control liquids. She has wavy brown hair dip-dyed turquoise-teal at the ends, to match her eyes. A brilliant teal occupying the majority of iris with a small portion of green surrounding her pupils. _

_Jokku next. Jokku, the oldest of the group of rebellious benders, is their, ah, I guess you could say he is their parental guardian. He can bend fire, and all other forms of electricity. He has curly brown hair that makes him look amazing in battle. __His eyes are a dark brown that give off a more rogue, intimidating, hot look.  
Next we'll speak of Naz. Naz is an interesting situation. She and her brother, Andrew (whom of which I shall elaborate on later) are the descendants of Aang, a previous Airbending avatar, but their story is much more complicated than that. She's probably the most level headed and strategic of the group, which is odd, considering you'd assume an air bender to be an air head, much like her ancestor. She knows how to control her temper, and knows when, how, and where to lose it (although that rarely ever happens, but when it does, my freakin' god, you do _not _want to be her target). She has long light brown hair that flies even in the smallest of winds and her eyes are the shade of clear day skies. Her pet bison, Bora, is a descendant of her ancestor's pet Appa. Since her birth, they were inseparable.  
Kye. Ah, Kye. The youngest of the band of benders, merely 12 years old when the others found him, but surprisingly not the most immature (that title goes to Sammi). Kye bends the Earth, which always makes the others wary when he grows upset. Especially after that one incident with the grand canyon. Despite his crazy personality, when faced with danger he actually reacts much calmer than you'd expect any 12 year old to do. Of course, that's probably because his whole life has been dangerous. Kye, like Jokku, has curly hair. He also has dark green eyes, like a forest at night.  
Next topic of discussion is Lynn. Lynn, unlike the others in the gang, had only recently discovered she even possessed the ability to bend, before joining the other benders barely months before. She'd only found out about it after…..well, you'll find out with time. Also an earth bender, she's still slightly new to the whole program, making it difficult for her to control her power when her temper got out of hand. Her control is even worse than Kye's. Lynn has frizzy, curly dark brown hair and green eyes with flecks of amber and brown.  
Aya Niang, water bender. The funny thing about Aya and Kassandra is that because they're both water benders they should have gotten along greatly from the start, especially because water benders in general are categorized as quite peaceful. However, I guess the psychotic Kassy was just too much for Aya, with her mellow personality, to deal with. Can't really say I blame her. Aya….has a fuzzy past. The thing is, no one really knows all that much about her except Jokku. She has perfectly straight black hair that flowed down to around her mid-back, tanned skin, and dark blue eyes, like the ocean right before a storm.  
Next I feel like I should fill you in on Naz's brother, so allow me to share what little I know of Andrew. He's an idiot. Most of you would laugh at that sentence, but it's actually true. Or at least he acts like an idiot? I couldn't tell, one minute he's solving the most complicated equations you could ever imagine (while telling you a new version of just why the chicken crossed the road), the next he's trying to feed bits of banana to ants. Not literally, but I assume you know what I mean. In battle, for instance, that kid is seriously skilled. Like, no joke. But he somehow manages, while fighting for his life, to say something stupid. I hope that gives you a good description of Andrew, because that's truly the only way I could think of describing him, except maybe I could tell you he's exactly like Aang, except even when faced with death he's ridiculously immune to fear. And let me tell you this: He annoys Lynn to death. I don't know why, I'm not even sure it's really because he's an idiot, I think it's simply because of his naïve persona. Maybe she's envious. Andrew has gray eyes and light, shaggy brown hair that barely falls over his eyebrows.  
Ah, now we'll move on to Sammi. Sammi's a skilled fire bender, one of the best of the 21__st__ century, and at such a young age, too. I mean seriously, why the hell is it possible for a 16 year old to be nearly 1,000 times more skilled and badass than a bender who's trained their whole life? Lucky little twerp, that's all I've to say. Oh, and don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean he's better than Jokku. It just means he's badass. Er, let me rephrase that. They're a few of the only fire benders left who have _not _been abducted by the union, so they're both top benders. The thing about Sammi is that he uses his ability more, and loses his temper easier. He has short dark brown hair and amber eyes, almost near a golden color.  
Needless to say, wherever the band of benders went, they always attracted attention. No exceptions. Especially when they were _trying _to attract attention._


	4. Chapter 4

Lynn sighed, packing the last if her clothes and falling down onto her bed next to Naz.  
"Finally. Done."  
Naz scoffed at her. "Haven't started."  
Lynn turned to the seventeen year old incredulously. "You do realize we're leaving_ tomorrow_, right?"  
Naz sat up. "I realize. It's easy though, I can just bend everything into my bag and I'm done. Watch." She stood up and faced the door of the room. She gestured her right hand to the dresser and mimicked the movement of a wave, resulting in her drawer opening. Simultaneously, she made a movement with her left hand to toss open the lid of her suitcase, which was lying on the other side of the room. She moved her hand in a "C" formation, from the top to the bottom, before raising her hand, levitating the suitcase. She swept her hand over to the bed and lowered her hand, dropping the suitcase on the mattress. Next, the airbender raised her right hand, causing her clothes in the drawer to levitate, and moved them into her suitcase.  
"Done." She proclaimed, and Lynn raised an eyebrow at her.  
"Uhm, and the Orlando and Ed posters?"  
Naz rolled her eyes and quickly crossed the room, using her hands to remove the posters from the wall. She folded them into halves, then quarters, then placed them at the top of her suitcase. She turned to the earthbender.  
"Happy?"  
"Airbending is so cool."  
Naz grinned. "I know."  
"I don't want to leave this place. I was actually starting to like it." Lynn sighed, and Naz closed her eyes. "I know," she said, "me too. I didn't...I didn't mean to have things go badly so we wouldn't be able to stay. I just wanted to show Jokku that I'm not some incompetent. I wanted to show him I could handle something, but...I _couldn't_."  
Lynn raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you _could've_, you just..."  
"Couldn't protect Kassy at the same time?"  
Lynn shrugged. "So it didn't go exactly like you planned it."  
Naz scoffed. "That's an understatement."  
"Look, knock it off, alright? I know you're feeling sorry for yourself, but we don't get that luxury. Okay, you screwed up. Just be grateful it didn't end with you and Kassy's capture, and just know what _not_ to do for next time."  
Naz took a deep breath and shrugged. "You're right."  
"So, d'you know how pissed Aya is at you for making us leave?"  
Naz scoffed. "I knew she was acting weird, why does she care so much?"  
"Because she doesn't want to leave her boyfriend."  
"She has a_ boyfriend_?"  
"Well," Lynn shrugged, "_had_. Past tense."  
Naz rolled her eyes. "She'll get over it."  
"I know."  
Naz smiled at the other girl evilly, and Lynn raised an eyebrow and sighed.  
"Who's the victim this time?"  
Naz shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter if we trash the house, so..."  
Just then Kassy burst through the door, slamming it behind her and red in the face from laughing and running.  
"My...God...nearly...saw me..."  
"Did they?" Naz asked anxiously, and Kassandra rolled her eyes.  
"_No_. Have a little faith."  
Naz laughed. "Sorry, okay."  
Lynn rolled her eyes. "Kassandra, what has she planned this time?"  
Kassy smiled manically. "Paint ball catapults in Sammi's room."  
Lynn smirked. "And I assume the target is Sammi?"  
Naz grinned. "And Aya. It'll help her get over her anger."  
"Actually, I think it will just add fuel to the fire."  
"Technically, she's a water bender."  
Kassandra laughed. "I cannot wait to see how this turns out."  
"Right?" Naz agreed, and Lynn shrugged. Just then the trio silenced at the sound of a door creaking open, wood snapping, and the whoosh of air before several bursting sounds and Aya's scream. The girls burst into laughter and a multi-colored Aya and Sammi came into the room, Aya fuming and Sammi laughing so hard you'd fear he'd explode.  
"That...was...awesome..." He gasped and Aya shoved him slightly.  
"It was NOT," she said, turning to stare icily at Naz, "it was immature and stupid."  
Naz rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You know it was awesome."  
Aya glowered at the three girls, in turn, before turning on her heel and stomping out of the room. Sammi shrugged. "It was hilarious." he said, then he smiled deviantly and turned to Lynn, who raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.  
"Sammi..."  
And then he enveloped her in a hug, covering the earthbender in paint. Lynn squirmed and fidgeted in the other boy's grip, unable to release herself. Eventually, she detached herself from Sammi, covered in blue, green, orange, yellow, and several other colors of paint. Kassandra, Sammi, and Naz all laughed as her face grew an awesome shade of red. She stomped her foot in frustration, which resulted in a quake of the ground beneath them. Everyone quieted down as they waited to hear Jokku's reaction to the mild little earthquake caused by the bender. "Kassandra! What'd you do to Lynn?!" Kassandra gaped, incredulous, through the open doorway as everyone else burst into laughter. "SCREW YOU!" She yelled down. Again, the five benders quieted down at the sound of Jokku coming up the stairs. The footsteps silenced, and everyone looked around confused. Then Jokku came in, hands in pockets. He turned to glare at Naz. "What did you do this time?" Kassandra glare at the older boy and muttered under her breath, "you assumed it was ME automatically." She sulked, and Jokku rolled his eyes and continued to glower at Naz, who shrugged innocently.  
"We were...renovating?"  
Sammi laughed. "Yeah, you know, fixing up the house for the next sucker who moves here."  
"Yes Sammi," Jokku said sarcastically, "because splattering paint on the walls is really _fixing_ the house."  
"Would you have preferred we use eggs?" Kassandra asked thoughtfully, and Jokku rolled his eyes.  
"Well, why don't you tell me." Jokku said, pulling a water gun from out of his pocket and squirting at Kassy. Instead of water, however, Jokku had filled the gun with bright pink paint. Kassandra, annoyed, grabbed Sammi by the shoulders and shoved him into Jokku, where the two fell on the ground, Jokku's face a fluorescent orange. Naz burst into laughter and Lynn, irritated, enveloped Naz in a bear hug. Naz screamed and squirmed, and Jokku joined in on the hug as Kass and Sammi snuck out of Naz's bedroom and back to the bathroom.  
Kassandra opened the cabinet where the benders usually kept the medicine and instead found several bottles of paint. They wasted no time hurrying back to the bedroom, where Andrew and Kye had also joined in on the paint battle. Sammi handed Lynn a tube of lime green paint and Naz grabbed the purple. Everyone uncapped their bottles and tubes and began squirting aimlessly around the room. At the end of the night, everyone was covered in multiple colors of paint and arguing over who was going to take a shower first.  
-


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay! Everyone ready to go?" Jokku yelled down the hall, he, Sammi, and Andrew hauling the last of the suitcases into Naz's car.  
"I still don't get why we're moving to _Galveston Texas. _He couldn't have picked some place more exciting." Lynn muttered, grabbing an apple out of the bag of food the benders were taking with them and tossing Kassandra a banana. Naz rolled her eyes and leaned over the island in the middle of the kitchen, staring at Lynn.  
"That's the _point_, genius. We're supposed to be somewhere all of us can easily practice our bending without attracting too much attention. Apparently, Galveston has, like, a lot of natural disasters like hurricanes."  
Lynn stared at her, dumbfounded, and Naz facepalmed. "That's it, you need to pay more attention in Geography." Lynn crinkled her nose in disgust and took a bite of her apple, her face surly. "Ew. No."  
Kassy rolled her eyes, putting her head between her hands and resting her shoulders on the marble tabletop.  
"Guys, ready to go?" Aya came in and asked, shoulders stiff.  
"Coming." Naz said, and Aya shot her a look before walking back out to the cars.  
"Someone's not over their issues yet." Kassy noted, and the trio walked out of the house to the sight of Sammi and Jokku arguing, Kye playing video games in the car, and Aya and Andrew joking around. Lynn's phone rang and she answered it, walking away from the others as she talked.  
"I have to say I'm not that upset we're leaving. I mean, sure, it sucks having to move around all the time, but I didn't really like it here." Kassy said, and Naz shrugged.  
"Shut up Sammi. Alright! Everyone ready?" Jokku directed the second part to everyone. Aya climbed into her car with Andrew and Kye, Sammi climbed into his car, Jokku into his, Naz, Lynn, and Kassy hopped into their car and Bora was sleeping in the animal-transportation unit hooked onto Jokku's car.

-  
Sammi fell on his bed, exhausted. The drive to Galveston had taken them all day and night, and as soon as they'd arrived they directly began unpacking. The beds were easy for him to assemble and the trunk of his truck was big enough to fit his dresser, so all he had to do was haul it up to to his room (which had been easy with the help of the airbending abilities offered to him courtesy of Andrew). He'd unpacked all of his stuff and had helped Naz, Kassandra, and Lynn with their stuff a bit too. His mini fridge was easy to install too (since they moved around a lot, instead of having one big fridge they easy had their own small one). Jokku had been the biggest pain during the trip, they had been arguing over what's app on how quickly they would have to enroll in school. Jokku, no longer getting his education, was the sole supplier for the Contradiction (what the benders liked to call themselves), save the small fortunes left by each of the benders' parents. One of Sammi's biggest issues with how Jokku ran everything, however, was that he kept most of the other's in the dark about their parents' deaths. Many thought there were still hope, and Sammi hated to see them filled with false hope. Jokku did it to protect them, obviously, but it still pissed the Sammi off. He sighed and closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

_Okay, time to introduce Sammi. Sammi joined the Contradiction after his parents and he were taken captive by the Union and his parents were tortured to death in front of his very eyes. They very nearly killed him, too, but some of the other adult benders had deduced a plan to help all the young kids escape. Once out on his own, many of the other children flee, on the run from the Union, and leaving him completely alone. First he'd found Kassandra, who'd led him to she and Jukko. At the time, it had just been the three of them, and he'd watched as slowly each of the others had joined in on the gang of rebels. Some of the other's in the gang might say that his childhood, unlike any of the others', was simple, straightforward, and the easiest to bear. There was nothing unsolved for him, no doubts about his past and nothing left a mystery, but that didn't mean it didn't haunt him day in and day out. It just made everything easier to understand, not easier to cope with._

-  
Naz handed Andrew his tea and sat down across from him with her own. The kitchen had, impressively, been finished that evening and everyone had sat around the table and eaten like they rarely ever did. Everyone had contributed something, save Sammi. He hadn't helped at all; just came down, ate, and left, but Naz didn't question him. She'd learned it was easier to deal with one another if not to ask about them when they seemed upset, because if they were dwelling on their past, they wouldn't want to talk about it. Personally, she tried to forget about her childhood entirely, but of course that was impossible. Especially with her brother there as a constant reminder. She sipped at her tea silently, trying to clear her mind from any thoughts other than the taste. She caught her brother staring and raised an eyebrow.  
"What're you looking at?" She asked, irritated, and he held his hands up in surrender.  
"Nothing."  
"Hmpf." Naz drained her drink stood. She placed her mug in the sink and made her way to her new room, exhausted and anxious to climb into bed. She hadn't been able to get any sleep last night as Lynn had taken the day shift to drive and Naz was booked for the night. She quickly changed and prepped for bed. While getting ready, she thought about what Jokku had said at the table earlier. He'd told everyone they were going to delay on starting school until Monday, which gave the benders four days to do nothing but just relax. A luxury they weren't usually granted. It'd be nice, though. To relax. Last time she and Kassandra had tried to relax, they'd screwed everything up. This time, though, it wouldn't be just her and Kassandra. It'd be everyone. So they wouldn't screw it up. At least not alone. Naz climbed into bed, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.


	6. Chapter 6

'_MOM!' Lynn screamed, jumping out of her hiding space. The men turned to look at her incredulously and Lynn's mother looked at her with horrified shock. Lynn, immune to fear and only thinking of helping her mom, stood her ground. Her mom must have known who was coming, Lynn thought, in order to have told her exactly where to hide and how silent she had to be. 'And,' she'd told Lynn, 'do _not_, under _any circumstances_, leave that spot. Do you hear me?' The words buzzed in Lynn's ears and filled her brain so there was no room for the fear to squeeze in. Her mom had known, Lynn repeated to herself, the truth not registering properly. And not only had she known, she'd been expecting it! So much so that she already had a hidden nook in the house for Lynn to stay in! The older woman stared at her daughter in horror, her eyes glued to her daughter's face as though she was seeing her family murdered before her very eyes. And maybe that was what those people were planning on doing to Lynn. Then, as if her mother hadn't shocked her enough for one day, she smiled. Her lips quirked up at the corners ever so slightly, but the motion was just about impossible to catch, Lynn could've sworn that her haywire brain was playing tricks on her, except what happened next was so bizarre Lynn had no doubt her mom knew about it.  
Lynn, for reasons she'd never even fathomed before she and her mother were separated, had always been able to sense…the floor. Well, not the floor, but whenever, say, there was an area of road under construction a block away from her house, she always had the weird feeling she could sense the vibrations. It was a strange feeling; based on the strength or patterns of the vibration, she was able to deduce what was happening to the Earth. Of course, her mom had always dismissed it as her childhood imagination, but this time the vibrations were unbearably strong. Her head felt as if it were being split in half, and she fell to her knees. 'So much for saving my mom' But she could hardly focus on her train of thought, her head felt so weird. It wasn't pain, it was just incredible discomfort. The men had her restrained before she could even look up.  
The vibrations were getting closer.  
Then, as if on cue, the windows shattered open and the front door, which had already been busted open by the strange men, banged against the wall as it slammed open again. Filling the room, to Lynn's shock, were a bunch of…..kids. 'Seriously?!' She thought, sure they were all doomed. She turned to look at her mom, and saw that this time her mom wore a full grin on her face. 'What the hell's she smiling at?!' Lynn thought, mortified. One boy, he seemed to be the oldest of the group of teens, stepped forward and smiled wickedly, making him look like a hot villain in a movie.  
"Hey, Marcaus, funny running into you here. Long time no see." The boy said, obviously provoking the leader of the men, whose face twisted up in horrified shock, his eyes glowing with fury.  
"Jokku and his little pack, come to save the day? You realize you're outnumbered."  
Jokku winked, as if they shared some little inside joke. "You know that that's never stopped us before." And the teens attacked. It was too much for Lynn to process. Out of thin air, water and fire and rock began flying across the room in a crazy array of the elements. The men were pelted with craters the size of soccer balls, shards of ice as tall as Lynn herself, and licks of fire that never seemed to retreat. The men pulled out guns and shot vigorously at the offenders, but they were obviously immune to the bullets. Every time one neared one of the teens and Lynn was sure it'd make contact, the little bullet would make a sharp U-turn, mid-air, and race back towards the shooter. Lynn stood there, too shell-shocked to even move, when a cool hand gripped her arm and began dragging her up the stairs. She hadn't even realized that the men restraining her had fled, along with most of the others who had ambushed her and her mother. She turned to the person who was holding her arm and saw that she was one of the girls who had been fighting with Jokku. She had long, brown hair in a messy ponytail that jumped up and down as she ran. She pulled Lynn into the spare bedroom and closed the door behind them. Lynn took a step away from the girl cautiously, and Naz turned to her, her expression grim.  
"Hey, I'm Naz. I'd love to explain everything, as you look totally confused, but if we do that here we'll most likely get captured by the back up Marcaus called for." She said, smiling.  
"Why are you helping me?" Lynn asked, confused, and Naz bit her lip with sympathy.  
"We have all been in your situation, Lynn. Jokku used to be close to Eliana, and when she came to him for help, he offered her his service. She requested one thing—we keep you safe and train you. That's what we're going to do, but if we linger down here, we won't be off to a very good start."  
Just then, another girl and a boy who had been helping Naz and Jokku burst into the room.  
"Naz! What's taking so long? Their back up just got here, and we need to leave_ now_!" The boy said, and Naz's head snapped to him.  
"Shut up Andrew! You don't think I know we're in a hurry? I want her to trust us!" Naz retorted, and the other girl rolled her eyes.  
"Both of you stop bickering or we're not going to make it out of this." She turned to smile at Lynn sweetly. She had wavy brown hair that looked tangled beyond repair, with some of the ends singed off from the fight. "Hi, I'm Kassandra. Call me Kassy," there was a loud bang downstairs, and Kassandra, with a cringe, added, "if we make it out of this alive."  
Andrew lead the way downstairs, Naz helped escort Lynn and kept her from toppling over every time she didn't pay attention to where she was going and nearly fell on her face, and Kassandra took up the rear, her hands poised palms outward, like a viper ready to strike. They tried to steal their way down the stairs as inconspicuously as possible, but out of nowhere Kassandra screamed from behind them. They all turned around to see one of the men who'd seemed as if he were dead before in pretty bad shape, but very much alive. Hi had his arm gripped tightly around the girl's neck and a gun pointed to her head.  
"One move, I shoot her." He warned, and Andrew held his hands up in surrender.  
"Fine, I don't have to move to save her, anyways."  
The man realized what was happening to late. Halfway through turning around, a wave of water came crashing towards them. Naz yelped and shoved Lynn down to the ground before shoving her hands straight above her as if she was pushing something up. Lynn took a deep breath and shut her eyes, but nothing happened. She heard Naz chuckle.  
"You can open your eyes." Naz said, and Lynn did. She saw that there was a bubble of air surrounding them, starting from where Naz's hands were positioned. The wave passed and Lynn stood up, feeling queasy. She turned to see another girl standing at the top of the stairs, her black hair down into a long braid. She wore a fierce expression and her hands were poised with one extended, palm forward, fingers curled, the other parallel to her body, the palm faced upwards and her hand stiffly straight. When it was obvious the man was not going to fight again, she relaxed and turned to Naz, Andrew, and Kassandra.  
"The _three of you _couldn't handle one job?" She asked, and Kassandra shrugged.  
"We could've done it without a problem, but what's the fun in that? I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking." She said, and the girl with the braid sighed.  
"Kassandra…"  
"We need to go," the other girl said stiffly, then she turned to glare at the girl with the braid, "It would be such a shame if the four of us couldn't handle one simple job, right?"_

-  
Lynn woke up feeling, surprisingly enough, rested. She hadn't felt _truly _relaxed since her mom mysteriously disappeared, and she honestly missed feeling like she didn't have to worry about someone attacking her at any given moment. Maybe it was because it had been a year since her mom vanished into thin air, only now Lynn had come to believe that she'd been abducted by what Jokku had called the Union. It had been difficult for Lynn to trust them originally since they hadn't moved to protect her mother, but with time it had become easier. One of the biggest factors in her trust was that they had accepted her. Of course, at times they were nearly impossible to handle, but they had quickly become her family. She was about to force herself up and out of bed when she realized she didn't have to. Jokku had given them the day off, which was nice. She sighed and closed her eyes again, feeling, for the first time in a long time, peaceful.

Lynn slept dreamlessly until noon, when Kye came barging in scolding her for missing breakfast. Ugh, Kye. He was adorable, and it was easy for Lynn to relate to him since they were both earthbenders, but sometimes he was just simply unbearable. Like right then. At one point Naz must have come in and removed the psychopathic twelve year old from Lynn's bedroom, but any hopes of falling back asleep yet again were lost. Irritated, Lynn crawled slowly out of bed, stretching backwards and spreading her arms out to yawn once she was standing. Blinking rapidly, she silently thanked Jokku for assigning her the bedroom with the fewest amount of windows. It made less light capable of entering the room and had been the main factor in the Earthbender's long slumber. Feeling like a zombie, she made her way into the bathroom that she, Naz, Kassandra, and Aya were all assigned. She took a long shower, letting the hot water relax her body and help wake her up. After her shower, she dressed and made her way downstairs, to where all the boys seemed to be setting up the living room: installing the couches, setting up the T.V., etc. Kassandra and Aya seemed to be making lunch, and Naz was playing PSP with Kye. Lynn, deciding she was hungry and wanted food, made her way to the kitchen.  
"Goodnoon, mon ami" Naz teased, popping some waffles into the toaster for Lynn.  
"What, Sleeping Beauty finally emerged from her tower?" Kassy teased, sticking her tongue out at the older girl teasingly.  
"Shut up." Lynn rolled her eyes, grabbing her waffles and sitting down at the table.


	7. Chapter 7

Sometimes it really surprised Sammi how annoying the others could be. _Especially Kassandra._ Not signing the benders up for school from the moment they arrived in Galveston? Stupid move, Jokku. Kassy was a total kid when she was bored, and she could be the most annoying thing in the world. Worse than Kye. _Much worse._ One minute she's acting like she's totally on drugs she's so loopy, the next she's barking at you for not saving the last strawberry popsicle for her. Then she's hogging the TV watching who-knows-what, then she's complaining she's bored. Above all, the most annoying had to be when she was reading. She would sit on the couch reading and keeping to herself, then at random intervals, she would scream crazy things, like _"NO BUT YOU'RE MY OTP! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!_" Or she would start talking about 'ships' and 'feels' and cursing authors. Not that Naz was any better. Sammi was almost looking forward to school. A few days later they were walking up to Seabay High, a run-down school across from the Galveston shore. The red-brick walls were faded with years and several hurricanes and the gates were rusty and unwelcoming. Sammi heard Lynn sigh.  
"Well, this ought to be…..what was the word Jokku used to describe it?" The earth-bender turned to Naz.  
"_Delightful_!" Naz exclaimed, mocking the Firebender's tone.  
"_Delightful!_" Kassy and Lynn imitated, and Andrew rolled his eyes.  
"You guys are weird, and we're going to be late. I'm going to find my class, good luck to you all."  
The remaining four benders watched Andrew disappear into the crowd in shock.  
"Well…." Sammi began awkwardly,  
"…that was extremely out of character." Naz finished, looking worried about her brother.  
"Chill, guys, who cares? So he ditched us. I'm about to do the same thing." Lynn said, and Kassy rolled her eyes.  
"Yeah but we expect you to do that."  
"Well whatever!" And Lynn was gone, too. Lost in the crowd of hustling students. The other three quickly, awkwardly dispersed, frantically searching for their classes.

-  
So, Naz's first week didn't turn out like she'd expected. The curriculum was completely different from what they'd been taking before and she was already behind in several courses, despite the fact it'd only been a month. She didn't understand half of what was being taught in class, and worse—she shared Physics class with Sammi and Algebra with Lynn. Not that she didn't like them, but it was _impossible_ to focus on the class with those two there to bug her endlessly. Kassandra didn't seem to be doing too good either. Andrew was acting….strange. Naz hadn't seen him really act that weird before, not even whenever he began to dwell on their childhood. It unsettled her. Jokku, it was obvious, was trying to make everyone feel excited about changing schools with barely two and a half months left in the year, but it wasn't really affecting anyone properly. If anything, it was making everyone even _more _upset about the situation. One thing Naz found slightly amusing though—the lifestyles of the benders hadn't changed. They were still inconspicuously controlling the elements during their free time to their benefits, even Kye. Naz, however, didn't mind. She figured it was their nature and there was no point in trying to restrain them—it'd just make them more eager to burst.  
The most hilarious had to be when Kassandra sprayed Dug with toilet water. Dug was the stupidest, meanest, most aggressive and oppressive guy in the whole school, and he loved picking on Sammi. Sammi, who couldn't bend fire without it being totally obvious something was wrong in the school, had to suck it up and take it. Kassandra, however, had been pushed over the edge. Naz had been hurrying down the halls in between classes frantically, trying to keep all of her books and papers from falling out of her hands and trying to make her way through the crowd. She could hear Dug yelling and rolled her eyes, fully knowledgeable that he was picking on someone else. It wasn't until she'd heard Kassandra's response that she became interested. She shoved her way to the front of the crowd and saw the younger girl glaring up at Dug, pure rage and fury written all over her expression. Sammi stood next to Kass, obviously trying to think of a way to attack without causing the fire he wanted to conjure much attention. Then Sammi did what Naz believed had to be the _stupidest thing possible_—he punched Dug in the nose. Not that Sammi wasn't strong, he was simply not the size of Dug, who was an XL and towered over everyone else in the school. Kassy, in the moment of shock, ran straight out of the circle to be engulfed by the crowd and no longer visible. Naz, about to step in to help Sammi, had stopped when she realized why the younger girl had run. Naz had only realized that they were surrounding the boy's bathroom when the doors burst open and Dug was attacked by a string of urine-water. It had to be the most disgusting yet fantastic thing Naz had ever seen. To add her own flare to the spectacle, Naz decided to bend the air so it formed a funnel from one of the bathroom stalls directly to Dug's face. Out squirted loads of feces and other unsanitary, nasty discoveries one can only find in a public school bathroom. The crowd burst into applause and cheers, and Naz scoured the crowd until she found Kassy and Sammi, grinning from ear to ear.  
Despite all the fun, Naz was totally freaking out about finals.

-  
Kye didn't really understand what everyone else was fussing about. Galveston was awesome. He was constantly pulling pranks, having people trip over rock that had magically risen up and then reverting the ground back to its original form; lifting the area where the teacher was standing and controlling it to lead her out the classroom, locking the door behind her. And no one suspected a thing. All in all, he was enjoying himself tremendously. It was just a shame he couldn't make the teacher's give him As, too. He was doing horrible in just about every class except geography. The irony. Then they had a field trip to the beach to collect fossils, sand dollars, and seashells to be examined in class. Of course, he'd been able to find the most impressive treasures in the whole class. Whenever someone found something nice, all he had to do was simply wait for them to set it back down on the sand before using his element to bring it right into his hands. He knew it was cheating, but it wasn't like he was doing anything _really bad_. It was fun. He'd also made a friend—a funny, stupid, awesome friend who totally did the most daring things any twelve year old would think of doing, and his name was Max. So when som high schoolers from Sammi's school who were ditching came up to them that day on the beach and started picking on Max, Kye didn't really have a choice. Even if he did, he would have made the same choice—he had sand fly up into their noses and they began sneezing and jumping around like chickens. Then Kye destroyed a particularly nice sand castle by moving it to trip the teens before burying them deep into the sand so the only part free of the sand was their heads. They couldn't move, they were in too deep. Kye and Max cackled for nearly twenty minutes before making their way back to the bus. One thing still surprised Kye about Max, though—he was really dull enough to not have realized that Kye had special capabilities. Not that he was complaining, this made everything easier for him.

* * *

A.N.: Okay I love All my followers so much and I adore you all from the bottom of my heart but Amakatsu your reviews broke my heart into little pieces and I started fangirling so hard THANK YOU for reviewin I'm soo glad you guys like ittt :)


	8. Chapter 8

They'd spent two months in Galveston, and so far the others were doing good. Jokku couldn't help being impressed—they were picking up on their schoolwork quickly, and they weren't doing too bad during their training, either. Sammi was learning how to bend lightning pretty quickly, and Aya was apparently teaching Kassandra how to bend anything at hand in an emergency: sweat, the juices in plants and fruits, even sodas. They were also rapidly progressing with a little trick to condense water vapor and the air around them into water. Lynn and Kye were working on perfecting metal and sand bending, and how to fully gain control over their ability. Naz and Andrew seemed to be working on creating their own techniques—Naz was at the point where she could do just about anything with a bit of air, and Andrew mastered this interesting little trick where he separated the molecules in the air. Jokku couldn't tell what was so important about that trick and couldn't see how Andrew separated the molecules, obviously, until he was suddenly starved of Oxygen with the swish of Andrew's hand. It was a nifty little maneuver. And Galveston was the perfect place for the benders to be to master their arts—the city dealt with so many natural disasters anyways that if the benders accidentally lost control it wouldn't be too shocking to the humans.

Jokku had had his hands busied with other things also, besides  
practicing with the others. Of course, everyone in the group knew the goal of the Contradiction: to take down the Union and keep them from further using and abusing elementalists to gain power. Everyone in the gang had a difficult past, including Jokku. Those couple years after his parents joined the Union willingly out of fear were some of the most miserable of his life. He was put into a strict training system with several other benders his age, training rigidly to create an army for the Union. He and his brother were confined with the other firebenders learning to master the element and were secluded from their parents. During his years in the training camps, Jokku recalled the meals being meager servings of bread and water, and when Jokku's  
brother once decided to try and sneak more food, Jokku remembered him being punished greatly. They'd publicly made a mockery of him, and Jokku had seen his parents in the crowd, denying him as their son. Jokku must've been around fourteen at the time he and his brother were planning to flee. During their escape, however, Jokku's brother was found and captured, and Jokku had had no choice but to continue on his own. He'd made it out, but barely. That's when he decided he was tired of living in fear, and he needed to do something to stop the Union. When he'd met Kassandra, he found that he wasn't the only one wanting to topple the dominion of the Union, either. Kassandra had been around eight at the time Jokku had found her in New York, covered in dirt, eyes wide with fear and intelligence. It hadn't been easy for her to trust Jokku until they were ambushed and he fought alongside her instead of surrenduring or turning against her. From then on she was inseparable from Jokku, and Jokku imagined she saw him as an older brother. Not too long after, they'd found Sammi, in much the same condition Jokku'd found Kassandra. And slowly the other benders joined the Contradiction until Lynn, who'd been the most recent addition to the gang. In several ways, the Contradiction had become his family, and he did his best to be there for them, even if sometimes they were extremely difficult little shits. So when he found out about the tourist attraction in Galveston known as Moody Gardens, he couldn't help but want to reward the benders with a trip to the amusement center. The others seemed pretty keen on the idea too once he'd informed them of it, so they would go the coming Saturday. Jokku had to admit he was looking forward to it—it'd be nice to get to take all of them out, especially Kye. Poor kid couldn't remember the last time he did anything non-school or bending related.  
Yeah, Jokku was looking forward to it.

-  
So, apparently they were all going sightseeing on Saturday. Wow, Jokku had _impeccable _timing. Really.  
As if things weren't hard enough for Andrew already, what with everything going on with him right now. Not only was he doing the worst job catching up of all the others in school, but it was solely because of all the weird dreams he'd been having. One minute they were fighting the Union, and they were pretty close to winning, too, but the Union always did something last minute to tip the scales and the Contradiction was overcome. They were all taking hostage and tortured before being placed in brutal camps to master their skills. He'd heard enough stories from Jokku to get a good picture of the Union's bender camps, but some of the details it seemed were never explained to Andrew by the older firebender.  
And what was with that text he'd gotten?!  
_'If you convince your friends not to resist, we won't hurt them. If you can't keep them in line with our request…the consequences will be severe.'_ From an anonymous number. As if that did _anything _to help his paranoia. Uhm, no. It actually made it several times worse. He couldn't even hear a door close now without jumping, and it was obvious Naz was onto him, at the least. He wasn't sure about the others.  
So, yeah, they were heading to some place called 'Moody Gardens'? Andrew'd never heard of it, even though he and Naz used to live in Dallas. They'd never been to Galveston before, let alone this man-made place on its period.  
But Andrew was determined not to think like that. He was going to try and be normal, goofy, ridiculously optimistic self.  
Yeah.  
Let's see how well this Saturday would turn out.

-  
Actually, Andrew had to say this—the first few hours hadn't been too bad. At first he was on edge, but as the time passed, it was easier and easier for him to relax. Jokku bought everyone dippin dots (it was surprising how much everyone liked it better than regular ice-cream, but for some reason it was just more fun to eat) and Andrew was able to enjoy himself. They spent the first couple of hours at this man-made beach, which was stocked with little fish and actual sand in a freshwater little mini-beach, and hung out at some of the other water-related attractions. They left the beach to head over to the gardens, with all these local plants. Later, they moved on to tour the pyramids. Moody Gardens had three pyramids—The Rainforest, the Aquarium, and the Discovery Pyramid. They split up into groups of two: Kassandra and Sammi, Naz and Lynn, Aya and Jokku, and Kye and Andrew. They did this mostly so that the opposite elements would be paired up respectively. Kassandra dragged Sammi along to the Aquarium as soon as Jokku gave them their admission tokens; Naz and Lynn both grabbed fruit smoothies before heading over to the Rainforest and returning moments later complaining they weren't allowed in with drinks. The girls found a table and sat, sucking their drinks and talking. Jokku and Aya made their way over to the Rainforest Pyramid, and Andrew and Kye decided to first head over to the Discovery.  
The Discovery Pyramid had a red exterior and was filled with sciency-stuff like dinosaur skeletons, a constellations room that was completely dark and the ceiling was decorated in stars and constellations and gave a show about the solar system. There were several other attractions, but Andrew wasn't really interested in them as much as Kye.  
After the Discovery Pyramid they made their way to the Aquarium Pyramid. They ran into Kassandra explaining all the exhibits to a bored looking Sammi, snapping her fingers in front of his face every time he'd zone out.  
"Come _on! _I'm not that boring!" She exclaimed, and Sammi shook his head vigorously.  
"Oh no, not _at all_." He said sarcastically, and the waterbender slapped Sammi on the shoulder as Andrew steered Kye down another corridor, acting as if they didn't know Kassandra.  
They'd actually entered a really interesting corridor, at that. They were surrounded by glass, and above, below, and on either sides of them swam exotic species of seacreatures. There were some sharks, too. Andrew found it really incredible, and after Kye dragged him over to check out the penguins they left the Aquarium.  
The final pyramid the duo had yet to visit was the Rainforest Pyramid. The Rainforest Pyramid was constructed of glass panels and was filled with bizarre types of birds, plants, and animals. The paths were constructed of wooden planks and on one bridge a green eyed tree frog jumped out and landed right in front of Kye. Kye was fascinated by the little creature, and the frog hopped atop the twelve year old's finger as they continued to tour the Rainforest. They approached a monkey exhibit and the frog jumped from Kye's hand and into the plants. Andrew found himself walking over to a small little exhibit with what looked like a mini-monkeys.  
"Those are Pygmy Marmosets, more commonly known as 'finger monkeys'" A woman with jet black hair and brown eyes said behind him. She was wearing a Moody Gardens uniform and Andrew got a vague idea she was of Asian origin.  
"They're cool," he responded, his eyes resting on a little orange monkey who was clinging onto a bar with its feet and nibbling on a nut, staring open wide and intrigued at Andrew.  
"They're slightly rare, they are new additions to the exhibit." She informed him, and he nodded.  
Andrew lead Kye away, but he really was interested by those little monkeys. They were back tracking their steps and making their way to the exit when he realized there were two men following them.  
"_Dammit._" He muttered, yanking Kye off to a corner and ducking behind some odd plant. Kye was a quick kid—he realized what was going on immediately.  
"Give me your phone, I'll text Jokku."  
Andrew handed the younger boy the phone quietly and rose so he was seeing just above the plant. The two men were looking right at them, smirking. Andrew ducked back behind the plant. Kye was talking into the phone to Jokku  
"He's saying Sammi just texted him, apparently Naz and Lynn were ambushed in the Aquarium. Kass and Sammi are there, they're helping them out, and Jokku and Aya'll be here as fast as they can." Kye said.  
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do until Jokku gets here:"  
"Yeah?"  
"There's another way back to where we just were by the monkeys. We are going to circle back that way and appear on the other side of the men."  
"Then what?"  
"Then nothing."  
There was an awkward silence before Kye asked, "How is that supposed to help us get out or attack them?"  
"It isn't. I just really want one of those little monkeys."  
"Oh my god. And you're the mature one here?"  
"Yes. And as the mature one, I decree we are going and getting one of those little orange monkeys."  
Kye threw his hands up in exasperation.  
"Fine! Whatever! Let's go before Jokku gets here."  
The two stole their way around the plants and up the other path to the finger monkey exhibit. From where they were standing, Andrew could see the Union men merely a few feet away, still watching the plant they had been hiding behind moments before.  
"Well?" Kye hissed, anxious to move out of the men's range of sight.  
"I'm not the metal bender here," Andrew said pleadingly, and Kye sighed.  
"Out of my way." Andrew moved to the side and Kye stretched out so he was gripping the metal tightly with both hands.  
"I can't believe I'm about to steal a monkey." He muttered, yanking his hands away from one another and ripping the wire fence apart like paper. The monkeys, too scared or shocked to react by escaping, simply poked their heads through the hole and looked around in awe. Andrew grabbed the orange one he'd been watching earlier and the monkey climbed along his arm and into his jean pocket. Kye turned to glance behind them at the men nervously.  
"Okay, now let's get out of here before—"  
"Well, well, well," A harsh, deep voice said behind them.  
"Jokku's little gang just can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble, can they?"


	9. Chapter 9

The boys whirled to face the speaker. He had beady little black eyes and a bald head with a horrible scar running from the top right area of his shiny scalp, down over his right eyes (where the surrounding skin was red and ruined, his eye nearly swollen shut) and down until it stopped at his lip, leaving him with half of his lip inflated like a balloon.  
"Well, I'm sure it's Aya's fault. That girl's just prone to disaster." Andrew said, flashing a crooked smile. The man glared down at Andrew evilly, and Andrew's smirk faded with realization and shock. He pointed at the hideous man accusingly.  
"I know you. You were a part of the attack on Lynn's house!"  
The man smiled evilly. "Ah, so you remember how your little Aya gave me this nasty scar."  
Andrew remembered only _too _well. The man had been threatening Kassy with her life, and Andrew and Naz, who had been helping escape the wrecked house with Lynn alive, had been forced to stay where they stood and were helpless to saving their friend without wiping her head clear off her body. Then Aya appeared from who-knows-where and hit the weirdo with a blast of water from behind. Oh, this dude was the jerkwad that jeopardized the whole mission and nearly killed them all. Even more? He'd also made Andrew seem incompetent to all the others. If the airbender couldn't save _one _of his friends in a small side recruit mission because he was too paralyzed by fear, how was he supposed to react when they were face-to-face with the whole Union?  
Oh, no. This dude was going to pay.  
Andrew's little pygmy marmoset friend quickly scurried down from where he sat on Andrew's shoulder and into the pocket of his hoodie. Kye stood stiff, at the ready to attack.  
Andrew didn't need Jokku coming to his rescue. He could do this himself.  
Then again…  
He didn't want screw up like his sister had.  
Okay, maybe waiting for Jokku wasn't that bad an idea after all.  
But yet…  
"So we screwed your face up pretty bad, hm? Must be hard picking up girls looking like _that._"  
The man's partner chuckled, and the man's face turned stony and red. _'Good. I just have to keep talking…'_ Andrew thought, pleased with himself.  
"And to think….a _GIRL_ did that to you! Even worse, a girl who'd had barely any training and isn't even over the age of 20!"  
See, in the world of the benders, you were still considered a 'child' and not fully trained until the age of twenty. The man's companion began to laugh.  
"Alright, that's enough. Let's take these two and join the others in bloc3." The man said, aggrivated. Suddenly, out of no where, the man inhaled sharply and grabbed his stomach before crumpling to the ground. His partner stared at his fallen comrad, shocked. His eyes glistened with unease.  
"What the f—"  
He wasn't given the chance to finish his statement as his right leg caught fire. Horror-stricken, he ran out of the pyramind, screaming bloody murder, and tripping on his way out. Jokku snickered and stepped out of his way as he raced to the exit. "Rookie."  
Aya looked bored, as usual. She held a cross bow crafted of ice, the string constructed of thin ropes of water. _'So she must have shot the man with an ice shard…'_ The crazy tricks Aya and Kassy thought up never ceased to amaze the airbender.  
"Wouldn't it be easier to have a permanent bow and just make the arrows?" Andrew asked, and Aya shrugged, allowing the weapon to melt in her hands.  
Andrew's phone, which Kye still gripped tightly in his hand, chimed and began ringing crazily. The benders all turned to one another before quicly rushing from the pyramid.

-  
"_Naz!_" Someone screamed behind her. _'Yes Sammi, because you screaming at me is seriously going to help keep me focused on_ _staying alive._' She thought, _barely _ducking fast enough to miss a blow to the head. Okay, they'd faced Union agents before, and they'd heard of Benders that had turned against their own kind, too. Hearing about them though was totally different from _facing _them.  
They were horrible, vicious, bloodthirty freaks.  
It was as if all their humanity, their emotions, _everything _was gone.  
"Get them, do you hear me?! Don't kill them! Injure them however you wish, but we need them alive!" The only non-bender of the group ordered the others. He seemed to be controlling all of them like puppets on a string, and it made Naz wonder what horrible things had been done to them to get them to this point...  
"Naz how you holding up?!" Lynn hollered, and Naz quickly risked a glance to her left. Lynn was working this trick where every time the enemy benders tried to take steps closer the ground wrapped around their feet and the sunk deeper into the floor.  
_SLAM._  
Something rammed against Naz's back, sending her to the ground. 'Oh just _wonderful_' She shoved her hand in a circle motion behind her back, sending her attacker flying. Gingerly, she stood. Naz glared at the Union member.

"That _hurt, _traitor." She spat, flicking her thumb and pointer finger, sending the man flying to the glass wall of an exhibit. Cracks appeared in the glass, and several fish swam by to watch the scene with interest.

"Naz!" Kassy's voice called, and Naz answered, this time without turning to face her. "Yeah?!"

"Keep slamming that dude against the glass until it breaks! I need the energy from it!"

Naz smiled and raised her hand. "Gladly." She flicked one more time, then began to help her friends out, sending their opponents head-first into the glass wall. Spiderwebs formed over the glass rapidly, and the wall was going to give in any moment.

_swish_

A rock flew at Naz. It scraped her across the cheek, leaving a gash along her face. '_Well, _that's_ gonna be easy to conceal._' She thought bitterly, blindly shoving her hands in the general direction from which the rocks had come. Sammi shouted some rude choice words at Naz, and she winced.

"Sorry! Bad aim...?"

Sammi glared at her as if he were about to start shooting smarmy remarks again when he received a wave of water toppling above him. Fire exploded among the current, and Sammi emerged spluttering and coughing.

"_KASSY!"_

_"_Wasn't me!" She yelled back, shooting ice shard after ice shard to enemy agents. "I'm not the only waterbender here, ya' know!"

Sammi didn't respond, he was too busy fighting a physical battle to join a verbal one with Kassy, too. Naz felt the ground below her tremble, and suddenly the ground was gone and she was falling far beneath the Underwater pyramid.

"Oh _come on_!" Naz said, irritated. She shoved her hands downwards, open palmed, and slowly her descent ceased before growing to an ascent. Just when she was reaching the land-level, someone came flying towards her. Someone flying in the air covered in flames. Naz rolled her eyes, and used one of her hands to bend the air, throwing Sammi out of the pit and over ground. She climbed out of the little trap feeling drained. She emerged to Jokku, Aya, Andrew, and Kye now helping the others. She smiled, before, of course, she felt a sudden burn against her side. She exhaled exaggeratively, aggravated.

"You pickle brains are seriously playing on my very last nerve." She said, extending her arm fully to her side, clenching her hand tightly into a fist. In one quick movement, she threw her hand up into the air, releasing it from the tight fist and opening it palm up. She heard a scream as the man flew. Looking around, she could see that the others had managed to fight off the enemies, too. Most of the exhibits were ruined; the strong glass walls reduced to nothing but shards on the floor. Many of the sea creatures were flopping around on the floor in spasms, trying to find water. Penguins were waddling around, squawking and nipping at whatever they saw.

"Naz, we need your help. Can you move some of the larger animals over here, please?" Jokku asked, and the airbender rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously going to have us repair everything?"

"No, but Kassy and Aya are livid. They want us to at least put these animals back into water before we leave."

"Ironic," Naz muttered, "Kassy's the one who wanted the glass broken in the first place."

Jokku shrugged. "She needed the water supply."

Naz walked with Jokku to a giant hole in the ground, much like the one she'd been trapped in earlier. It was about the size of a decent sized house, as deep as a two story building. It was being filled with water by the waterbenders, and the others were helping move the small fish and other petit animals. Suddenly a shark was thrown in, water splashing everywhere. Aya moaned; that girl looked _exhausted_. Kassy just glared at Andrew before continuing to fill the pool. "So you want me to do the same thing Andrew just did and bend the big animals into the pool?"

"Pretty much. And try not to splash water."

Naz yawned. "Let's hope we finish before the police show up."

* * *

A.N.: MY GOD THIS TOOK ME A MILLION YEARS TO WRITE. I am sorry. I had writers block, then my spring break ended, then the teachers loaded me up with homework, then I was sick, and through all this i barely found a second to write. However, I finallyyyyyyy finished and I'm soooo happy it's up.  
I'm also pretty pleased with how it came out. Not the best chapter of the fic but i still enjoyed writing it a ton. And if you like it, please review. It means the world from me to actually be able to know how you feel about the story. It gives me the fuzziest feeling inside :3 Enjoy! 3


	10. Chapter 10

'_Finally.'_ Naz thought, fully drained and fully irritated with Kassandra. She and Aya had made the benders stay behind after the fight and save the animals. As if that were _their _job! The airbender fell back onto her bed, sighing. She closed her eyes and just began to drift asleep when "Kass, Naz! Sammi wants to talk to you guys!"  
Naz cursed. "Tell Sammi that he can talk to himself!"  
Andrew repeated what Naz had said so the firebender could hear, and a minute later Sammi could be heard stomping up the stairs. Naz rolled onto her stomach and covered her head with her pillow as Sammi walked through the door. He shook her, and she didn't budge. He shook her again. Again.  
"Naaaaaaaaaaazzzzzz" He drawled, and abruptly Naz twisted and sat up.  
"_what?_" She snapped. His eyes widened as he held up his hands in surrender and ran from the room. She smirked.  
"Close the _door!"_ Naz called, throwing her pillow at him when he returned. She fell back onto the bed, and prayed that no one else would interrupt her. She heard the commotion going on below and around her and she strained to block out the noise, but to no avail. Finally, she gave up any attempts of sleeping and made her way to her desk, which was cluttered with notes, perfume bottles, school books, jewelry, and other such items. She looked up at the mirror, which was covered with neon sticky notes and pictures of her and the other benders. And one picture of she, Andrew, and their parents before the one attack that would lead to many…  
Naz turned her attention away abruptly, not wishing to uncover _those _memories which she'd spent years trying so hard to bury. Pfft, as if that'd be even _remotely _possible. She decided to work on her civics homework a bit, but when that became too boring, had to find something else to preoccupy her mind. She went to open her bedroom door.  
"Lynn!" She yelled down the hall. Lynn was a living, walking preoccupation all by herself, and if she couldn't help Naz, nothing could. Naz sat back down on her bed, her legs criss-crossed, and Lynn walked in, drying her hair off with a towel.  
"Sup Loser." The other girl greeted her, and Naz smiled. Lynn would be the perfect distraction.

-  
Kassandra didn't really feel like talking to anybody. Not Naz, or Lynn, or Jokku, or anybody. No one knew how her past was, except maybe Jokku. But even he only knew little fragments she'd told him as a child; not the full story. She was afraid; afraid of what they'd think of her if they knew. Their group's sole purpose was to stop the Union, and if they knew where she came from…  
There would be no way they'd trust her again.  
She usually tried to act as if it was nothing; she'd lived with Jokku for so long it was easy to pretend it was nothing but a nightmare she'd had as a kid. But the memories were still there—branded and engraved into her mind as if someone had carved them into the side of her skull. The recollectments were worst after a fight, especially if someone came out of the battle injured.  
It was hard, trying to hide something from those who knew you the most. The easiest way to hide it all was to act oblivious; immature, uncaring, childish. Because harboring a secret such as this was bound to come out eventually, but she wanted to be able to tell everyone in her own time. Unfortunately, her opportunities were rapidly decreasing and soon they'd find out themselves, before Kassandra was given the chance to explain.  
They all guarded their own secrets with caution; she knew Naz and Andrew had had a horrible past, although she had only heard selected bits, and Aya was so secluded from the rest, Kassandra doubted whether or not even Jokku knew anything about her. But secrets are the possessions of the one with the secret; Kassy believed, that, much like beauty, secrets, and their severity, were 'in the eyes of the beholder.'  
She curled up into her bed and retrieved what was the last tie she had with her mom; a book she remembered the woman reading to her as a child. She assumed it been her mom's favorite book when she'd found it one day in a bookstore and remembered seeing the cover as a child. She picked her copy up off the bedside table, and opened it too read it for the hundredth time.

_"__I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of creation if I were entirely contained here?" _

"_Honest people don't hide their deeds."_

"_Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you—haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe—I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!"_

-  
Lynn burst into laughter. Naz was, when she wanted to be, the funniest person alive. And her impersonations were _hilarious. _Naz was laughing, too, but not as much as Lynn. Of course, Lynn knew why, but that was okay. She didn't mind cheering Naz up, as she knew the airbender would do the same for her when she needed it. Only Naz and Kassandra knew how when Lynn had first joined the Contradiction she would scream out for her mom at night, crying out to her. They were the ones that had reassured her that they'd find her. Naz straightened up, clearing her throat, and began to once again imitate Jokku.  
"_You are so irresponsible, you must become one with your element! No no, you should not have fought of those bad guys, Naz, that's what I, the hero, am for! Never fear, Jokku's here! What the hell Andrew, you stole a monkey?!"_  
Lynn cleared her throat and began to impersonate Kassandra.  
"Oh yes Jokku, whatever you say Jokku! Oh no Naz, we should wait for Jokku! Jokku did you see what I did? Waow! Hey, Jokku!"  
Naz fell backwards laughing, and Lynn cackled, shaking her head.  
"You've gotta feel bad for her though, I think that she's been with Jokku since she was around five or six," Naz said, and Lynn raised an eyebrow.  
"That young? I wonder what happened.."  
"I don't know, but that girl must be an angel. I mean, who could stand living with Jokku for so long?" Naz teased, and Lynn grinned.  
"No, he's actually pretty cool. Even if he's uptight, it's just because he's worried…"  
Naz smiled understandingly and turned to gaze out her window as the sky darkened outside. "I know, and I owe him everything…." The words hung in the air, and the two girls were silent for a time as Lynn suspected Naz was remembering something. When Naz turned back to the earthbender, her eyes glistened but she was smiling.  
"But he can still be a royal pain."

* * *

A.N.: BLASDFGHJKL this took me forever to write! Sorry about the wait! :S Unfortunately, I barely had the time to write this in between studies. Finals are coming up, and I won't be able to update for the next couple of weeks until I'm free. Until then, I hope you enjoy this! I felt like up until now there wasn't really any depth to most of the characters, but I hope now you'll be able to understand Kassandra and Naz a bit more. I know I didn't really say that much about Naz, but that's simply because the walls she has around her to protect herself are _strong _and even I have trouble breaching them :P  
Anyways, just in case you didn't know, the quotes in the book Kassandra reads are from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I thought they suited the fic. (I'm not sure if they're in the right order according to the book or not, so sorry if they aren't x3)  
Enjoy!


	11. Chapter 11

A.N.: Okay, so I decided to do the Author's Note at the beginning this time. First off, I think I'll apologize in advance to all fans of Lady Gaga. I'm sorry about how I portray her (and Rihanna) but I needed to identify some authentic figure to kind of symbolize the Union. So I don't mean any offense, I just needed someone. I'm sorry, but please no hate. Heehee, other then that...enjoy!

* * *

Despite the feeling in his gut, Jokku decided it would be best for the bender's to stay where they were and finish the school semester in Galveston. Of course, Kassy and Naz had assured him, they were completely okay with ditching the last few weeks of school (as well as their finals), and taking one for the team to assure the rest of them were safe. Jokku had thanked them for their generosity and told them with a smirk that it would not, however, be necessary. The girls had begrudgingly trudged up the stairs, irritated with the fire bender. Jokku rolled his eyes. He'd known Kassandra ever since she was three, Naz when she was seven, and they still acted the exact same way they had when he'd first found him; he wondered if they would ever mature. Even a little bit. Of course, Kye had to barge in right then with a permission slip from school. He started going on and on about how his 'stupid school was making them go to a stupid farm to take care of stupid animals' and so on.  
"Don't you think it'll be fun?" Jokku asked, signing the piece of paper and handing it to the younger Earthbender, who stared incredulously back at him.  
"Uhm, no! The whole place is going to smell like cow shit!"  
Jokku glared at him. "Watch it."  
Kye gaped at Jokku, sent him a defiant glare, fisted the paper in his hand and stormed out.  
Jeez, why did Jokku agree to babysit a bunch of teenagers again? Of course, he knew that they would be fully trained very soon and ready to help him attack the Union. But still…it seemed like more work than it was worth.  
"Jokku!" Lynn hollered from the living room, "Jokku! Come look at this!" Sammi yelled, agreeing with Naz.  
'_Well, if those two are actually _agreeing _on something…'_ Jokku headed into the living room to see both Sammi and Lynn sitting on the couch, each drinking a soda, glaring murderously at the T.V.  
"I said no bringing drinks into the living room," Jokku snapped.  
"My God you act like you're 65, not 30."  
"I'm twenty seven," Jokku shot, and Sammi actually turned away from the TV to stare at Jokku.  
"Dude, that's even worse."  
Jokku opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Lynn.  
"Oh, my god! Both of you _shut up and watch_."  
The two boys turned to the screen to see that the TV was showing an episode of _Good Morning America _with Lady Gaga. Jokku made a face. He'd never liked her or her music. He also happened to know that she was one of the most important people in the Union, that she was one of the selected few who pulled the strings that controlled all the little puppets. Actually, a lot of singers and celebrities were too. Rihanna, he thought he remembered hearing once, was another. It was hard to know who was in it; they were incredibly discreet about it.  
"Look guys, I really don't care to—"  
"_listen!_" The two teens hissed, and Jokku complied. What he heard shocked him. She was… she had the _nerve _to actually _expose _benders like that! Who did this dumb blonde_ bimbo_ think she was, anyways?!  
"_Yes, well, I've actually heard a few rumors that there is this weird, hybrid breed of humans can actually control elements."  
"What?" the host asked, bewildered, "There's no way that's true!"  
"That's what I thought. I looked into it more, and I actually found that they really do exist. There's only a few of them, they're growing close to extinction, but I've actually _seen _a few bending for myself before."  
"That's unbelievable! Are they dangerous?!"  
"Well they had it confined, but it seemed pretty dangerous. This one girl, she looked like an innocent little five year old, but she could lift a rock that was ten feet away from her by simply raising her hand."  
"That's…unheard of! It's horrible!"  
_The TV fell to the ground. Lynn had, in a moment of outrage, slammed her fist forward as if to punch the TV, (although she was several feet away from the screen) and a crater had risen from the ground in front of them and flown forward, knocking the plasma screen to the ground. Sammi gasped in horror.

_"LYNN!" _

_"_Oh, kill me. she's annoying anyways."

_"_BUT I PLAY PS WITH THAT TV!"

"Oops."

The two bickered while Jokku thought about what this meant. He'd met the evil she-demon personally, and he was really hoping not to ever have to again. But for her to announce this to the public...

"I'm prohibiting all bending until further notice."

The bickering immediately silenced as the two teens stared at him in horror.

"Wh-_at_?!" Lynn demanded, outraged.

"No way! I'm starting to get really good at this new technique, there's no way I'm gonna stop bending!"

Naz, who had been watching the scene between Lynn and Sammi with an amused snicker, turned to glance, horrified, at Jokku.

"Uhm, excuse me for the lack of formality, but excuse me? I thought the whole point of this was to _practice our bending skills_, not stop using them all together! How are we supposed to fight if we aren't trained?"

"How are we supposed to fight if we're all dead?" Jokku snapped, and when Naz flinched back in shock, he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"Look, from what happened at Moody Gardens, and how quickly they were able to find us, it's obvious that they've been tracking us for quite some time. I don't know how they're able to find us so quickly, but they always do. We need to stop drawing attention to ourselves for the time being, which means _no bending._ Especially because they have gone to the extent of informing the public of the situation and using them to their advantage. End of discussion." He left the room, Naz, Lynn, and Sammi watching him go in shock.

"_What?_" Kassy exclaimed, her expression horrified. "But I can't _not_ bend! He knows that better than anyone!"

_"_Good luck telling him that. He had his _'end of discussion. My choice is final.'_ tone." Naz explained, popping a cherry into her mouth as she continued to flip through her bio textbook.

"But he can't _really _be serious. What did that idiotic slut say that affected him so much?"

"She started talking about how she'd seen benders before and she was talking about them as if we are monsters and she was actually subliminally getting everyone watching that show to believe her." Lynn explained, popping a lollipop into her mouth.

Naz chuckled darkly. "It wasn't that subliminal, it was actually pretty point-blank. She was flat-out telling people we are demons from hell. I looked up the rest of the video online. It's _all anyone's talking about."_  
"It's _ridiculous!_ In the name of the Avatar, if I were Jokku I wouldn't make us all go into hiding, I'd fu—"  
"You'd what, Kassandra?" Jokku had appeared in the doorway, and he was staring straight at the youngest girl. She returned his stare, glaring mercilessly.  
"I'd _do something about it._" She stated, her tone even. Naz raised an eyebrow at Lynn in shock, and the earthbender shrugged in response.  
Jokku's mouth parted slightly in shock, but he wet his lips before responding, his voice flat.  
"I want to do something about it, Kassandra. Dammit, you have no idea how pissed I am about this and how much I want to do something about it. But sometimes I need to look at things from an objective point of view instead of how _I _want to see things."  
"Meaning?"  
Jokku sighed, "_Meaning,_ Kass, that maybe there are others in the group that aren't ready to fight. Tell me—do you remember wanting to strike against an army of properly trained benders when you were _twelve_?"  
"Actually, Kye is thirteen," Lynn interjected helpfully, and Naz rolled her eyes.  
"Not the point, stupid."  
"Well I realize. I just thought I should clarify." Lynn stated, shrugging. Naz rolled her eyes and chuckled under her breath.  
Kassy stood from where she was seated on the foot of Lynn's bed. "I don't really remember you being ready at sixteen, either," she said, grabbing some jellybeans and turning away from Jokku, "yet I am."  
Jokku turned away, and before he left, said, "Know when to differentiate between weakness and caution, girls. Goodnight."


	12. Chapter 12

Jokku had the ability to take away someone's power to bend. At least, that was what everyone in the Contradiction was left to believe because it had been repeated so much. Plus, every time the elder firebender was confronted with the question, Jokku would simply smirk knowingly and shrug before continuing whatever it was he was doing. Aya hadn't realized how how much she used her bending in her everyday life outside of training. In the beginning when Jokku had declared no one was allowed to bend she had obeyed for fear of the consequences, and the reality of how difficult life was _without _the perks of being a waterbender slapped her right in the face, mercilessly. For one, allowing the shower to decide the temperature for you was nearly _impossible_; there were only two options: Arctic freezing or hellfire. On top of that, doing her chores was frustrating and time-consuming. She pitied non-benders. Aya continued not using her powers until she caught Naz dusting and sweeping the den using her powers. The two girls had had a huge argument, but in the end Aya had to agree with the other girl: that 1) they weren't event really causing any harm and 2) if they were careful they wouldn't get caught. After all, air and water were the easiest elements to control. They were the calmest. Earth, too. That was why Lynn and Kassandra were also practicing in secret. But fire…you could never really know what to expect from fire. And of course Jokku knew that but would simply never admit it; not for himself, because he actually had amazing control over his element, but because by saying something like that he would be setting off the bomb that was Sammi. Sammi loved his element and if anyone said anything about fire being disadvantageous or dangerous, he would go to extensive measures to prove them wrong (although he would end up doing the exact opposite). The three girls hadn't told Andrew for fear that he would do something reckless and stupid and expose them, Kye because he was too young and, although he was the best bender any 13 year old had ever been, he still didn't have complete control yet. Finally, they hadn't told Sammi for the obvious reasoning that he was Sammi. He would try to do something spontaneous and ingenious that would (literally) blow up in their faces and then they'd all be screwed. Upon being asked why Aya hadn't been informed, the airbender shrugged and said that they had assumed Aya hadn't wanted to know. After all, Naz reminded her, things didn't work out all too the the last time. Aya understood completely, even if it did leave a bitter taste in her mouth. The waterbender knew that the inseparable trio—Naz, Kassandra, and Lynn,—did not include her. However, the fact remained that she was the one always excluded of the girls in the Contradiction royally sucked.  
Especially because it was over something that had happened so long ago. She knew that Naz and Kassandra had forgiven her—but that didn't that didn't mean they'd necessarily forgotten. Then again, she had to remind herself, no one else had really forgotten about it either. Everyone else still held the two friends responsible and since then Kassandra and Naz had never been paired up together for major missions. It wasn't that the other benders didn't trust the two girls, they just didn't trust them _that much_. And it was, technically, all Aya's fault. That was the main reason that when Jokku had gotten the message that there were Union members out on the prowl at that party Naz and Kass had attended, he didn't really trust them to come home and had went to get them. Of course, the fact that he'd been right had made him even more unlikely to trust them on their own any time soon. The waterbender promised the other girl she would keep her secret and began breaking out her bending again, too. And _dayumm, _did they make life easier.

-  
Naz regretted telling Aya anything. She regretted not just keeping her mouth shut or denying using her bending in the first place. Because now she regretted having to tell a certain waterbender that she'd told Aya anything, and she sure as hell was regretting having to deal with Kassy's anger. When Kassandra was pissed at you, that was it. You were shunned for the rest of time, you were epically screwed. Not as if she couldn't handle the crazy waterbender, and not as if she herself were any better when someone else did something to piss her off. She just didn't have the energy at the moment. Then there was the option of not even telling the waterbender, which would save her some time before Aya did something stupid and Kassandra found out anyways, becoming even _more _furious than she would be if Naz told her now. The airbender sighed, turning the handle and entering the room she had been standing in front of. She walked in to Jokku sitting back on his bed, leaning against the headboard with his laptop resting on his legs. He pulled his earbuds out of his ears and rolled his eyes, shutting his laptop.

"Don't you knock?"  
The airbender snickered. "You wouldn't have heard me even if I did."  
"You still should have."  
"I'll make it a note for next time," She responded not at all sincerely, rolling her eyes. Jokku sighed.  
"What was it that you wanted, anyways?"  
Naz's smirk melted from her face. "We've been bending."  
_ Or there was always this option, too._

-  
Kye kinda sorta hated Jokku at the moment. Okay, more than kinda sorta. He didn't understand why the stupid firebender wouldn't have just let him not even go to school today. Ever since they'd gotten off the bus, the smell of manure had filled their noses. And it was _disgusting. _Plus, these idiots he had as classmates were seriously going to provoke him and he would not be held responsible for his actions. Sure, Kass and Aya were "one with the aquatic animals", and everyone thought they were a bit ridiculous (Kye included, those girls were obsessed), but that didn't mean that the Earthbender _enjoyed_ torturing harmless animals. Such was the reason that a group of boys from his class taking turns hitting the animals in the barn had Kye slowly and deliberately clenching and unclenching his hands into fists. When he realized they were making a competition of sorts out of it, seeing who could hit the animals hardest and make them the most agitated or pained, he saw red. Kye didn't even _remember_ opening that crevice in the ground, but there it was. And, oh look, there were all the stupid boys trapped inside. Oh well, not like he regretted it anyways. Everyone went crazy trying to rescue the boys (from a ditch, really, it wasn't like they were about to be engulfed by a dragon or anything. Calm down people.) and, once the boys had climbed out (completely unharmed but still crying pathetically, much to Kye's amusement) the elders called the school. Due to the sudden and "freak" earthquake, they were ending the field trip early and everyone was piled into the bus to go home. Parents were called, and—_oh, shoot. Jokku was going to _**have his head**. In the chaos, no one noticed the curly haired boy sneaking a teacup pig into his backpack. But hey, he was already going to be in trouble anyways, no pain no gain. And if Andrew could bring a monkey home, Kye could bring a pet too.

Besides, pigs were way cuter than monkeys anyways.


	13. Chapter 13

As soon as she finished telling Jokku everything that had happened, Naz immediately regretted it. His eyes flashed with anger for all of half a second before he quickly composed himself and nodded as if they had just sealed a business deal.  
"Is that it, Naz?"  
Naz raised an eyebrow distrustfully. "Yeah, that's all….do me a favor?"  
"What?"  
"Don't mention this to Kass and Aya?"  
Jokku shrugged. "Sure, I won't say anything to them."  
Naz sighed in relief.  
"Because you're going to tell Kassandra everything you just told me."  
The airbender froze. "Uhm, can you just let me, erhm, let me convince them to stop bending for awhile?"  
Jokku smirked. "Have you really showed me you're all that trustworthy when you tell me something?"  
"But you don't get it—Kassandra's gonna be _pissed! _Do you really think that that's such a good idea? Because when Kass is pissed _then _she'll do something dangerous that will just draw attention to us!"  
"And you'll also have to keep them both from bending any further."  
"_JOKKU!_"  
"Either you do it or I will," He snapped, and the young girl crossed her arms.  
"Fine. Then _you_ tell her!"  
Jokku nodded, then his eyebrows furrowed as he thought of actually telling her and he sighed, exhausted, running a hand through his hair in annoyance.  
"By the Avatar, _fine_. You don't have to tell Kassy anything. Just make sure they stop bending."  
Naz beamed gloatingly. She nodded and whirled around, skipping out of the room with a hop in her step.  
"Naz," the firebender called after her just before she closed the door behind her. She opened the door again slightly, her right hand resting on the door handle while her left gripped the doorframe, supporting her. "I mean it. Keep them from bending." He was dead serious, leaving no room for negotiation. Naz nodded and closed the door, taking the stairs down to the first floor and grabbing her purse and keys as she left the house.

-  
Kassandra stared into her cereal dejectedly, lazily using her spoon to move the flakes around in the milk, watching. Her elbow sat on the table, her cheek resting on her fist. She didn't even bother looking up when Kye walked towards her and stopped directly in front of her. Kassy just continued to stir her cereal, glaring into the bowl like it was the cause of every problem she'd ever had. Truth be told, she wished that were the case. At least, if it were, she could have her revenge. But how do you get your justice against those you _loved?_ Or _yourself?!_  
"Are you planning on focusing on me anytime soon?" The boy asked, and Kassandra barely muttered out a 'no'. He threw his hands up in exasperation and picked his backpack up off the floor, dropping it onto the table next to the firebender. An odd squeal emit from the bag at its unceremonious landing and the bag began to move as if there was a rabid cat trapped inside. Kassandra's eyes snapped to the bag. One brown eyebrow rose as the waterbender lifted her gaze up to the young boy suspiciously. Kye was grinning widely.  
"Kye…." The girl asked slowly, standing up and taking a step away from the backpack, "what is in there?"  
The boy laughed. "You scared, Kassy?"  
"_No_," She snapped automatically, "I just don't feel like having my eyes clawed out by some wild animal when you open that bag. Mind you, I _like_ being able to see."  
The younger boy shrugged, closing the distance between himself and his schoolbag and unzipping it. He stuck his hands into the bag and pulled out a…._pig? _Yup, it was definitely a pink little pig…very little, actually…  
"Her name is Portrid. Do you like her?" He asked excitedly, cradling the pig in his arms. Kassandra stared at him, wide eyed.  
"Where on God's green Earth did you get a _pig_?!"  
The young boy's enthusiasm faded and he seemed to have replaced it with hurt and anger.  
"She's a _teacup pig_, and I had to go on this stupid field trip to the farm."  
"You stole a teacup pig from a farm on a school field trip?"  
Kye shrugged. "Andrew stole a teacup monkey from a zoo on a family trip."  
Kassandra facepalmed, massaging her forehead with her fingers. _'Of course. Of course this was _Andrew's _idea.'_  
"_ANDREW!"_  
There was a loud booming noise from the floor above them and the sound of Andrew running down the stairs before he appeared in front of them, hair disheveled and windblown, his eyes wide.  
"_What?!"  
_ The waterbender stared at the other boy, a disbelieving smirk on her face. "Were you _airbending_?" She asked incredulously.  
"_No,_" he hissed all too quickly, "of course not!" He glared at the girl as she struggled to keep a straight face for a few seconds before he snapped.  
"Did you _want_ something?"  
She shook her head to clear her mind and worry about blackmailing Naz's brother later.  
"Right. Yes. Andrew, explain to Kye that you were being an idiot at Moody Gardens and that it is not okay to go off stealing miniature animals every time you see them."  
Andrew turned to the younger boy and raised an eyebrow at the pig squirming and oinking in the earthbender's arms.  
"Is that a teacup pig?"  
"Yeah," the curly haired thirteen-year-old nodded, "her name is Portrid."  
"Cool."  
"Uhm, Andrew?" Kassandra interrupted, her eyes gesturing to the pig.  
"Oh, right. Listen, Kye…" Andrew started, squatting down until he was at eye-level with the boy, his hands on his knees. "It's totally okay to take whatever animal you want _when_ever you want, so long as they are in miniature size."  
Kassandra chased him out of the kitchen, pelting him with oranges and apples from the bowl on the table.

-  
Jokku sighed in exhaustion, shutting his laptop and setting it on his bedside table, falling back on the bed. He'd been doing research on the Union, and most of the things he'd seen weren't the sort of things he'd want to tell the other benders. The only reason he even had access to the Union's information was because of his brother. When Jokku had fled, his brother had stayed behind and had managed to keep track of his movements and, eventually, contact him. He usually supplied him with the latest information on the Union and he has been the one to warn Jokku that agents were out tracking Kassandra and Naz when they'd gone to that party. However, knowing so much about the Union had its disadvantages. He'd recently seen some information on Naz and Andrew's father attaining a higher position in the Union's ranks as well as Kassandra's mom _ordering _Eliana's execution. How was he supposed to tell his benders that one of their moms's sentenced the other's mom to death? He shut his eyes, trying to _forget everything_ for just five minutes. Was that too much to ask?  
"_JOKKU!_"  
He groaned loudly. Apparently it was. He stood up, drunkenly walking to the door of his room and opening it. He heard something crash downstairs and rolled his eyes, descending the staircase to the first floor. It wasn't the first time two of the younger teens had managed to break the furniture. On the ground at the front entrance he was greeted by the sight of Kassandra pinning Andrew to the floor, the girl's hair messy and tangled. She glared up at Jokku as he raised an eyebrow at her and she used her eyes to gesture irritably to the airbender under her. Kye stood off to the side holding a small pig, examining the shattered remains of their hall lamp.  
Wait, what?  
The firebender's head snapped back to the thirteen-year-old and his eyes narrowed. Kye grinned up at him sheepishly.  
"Kye," he started, his voice strained, "why do you have a pig?"  
Before the boy had a chance to speak, Kassandra answered, standing up off of Andrew but continuing to glare at him warningly.  
"Kye has a pig because he stole it from a farm on a field trip. Where'd he get that idea? _This genius_ over here," she snapped, gesturing at the airbender standing up off the floor, "implanted the idea in his mind when he snatched that little monkey at Moody Gardens."  
"They're called _pygmy marmosets_." Andrew clarified, and before he even finished his sentence the girl snapped, "_You're _a pygmy marmoset."  
He muttered something under his breath and got pelted in the side of the head with a green apple. He grabbed it off the floor after it fell and chucked it back at Kassandra, who dodged the fruit and tossed an orange back at the boy. They continued have their little fruit war while Kye and Jokku just watched, amused. Jokku then turned to the young Earthbender and raised a brow.  
"A pig, huh?"  
"Her name is Portrid."  
Jokku nodded slowly before finally conceding, shrugging his shoulders in defeat.  
"Fine, whatever."  
Kassandra grabbed an apple mid-flight and turned to stare at Jokku, her turquoise eyes wide.  
"Bu—So, what, we're starting a zoo now?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.  
"Why not?" Andrew challenged, and Kassy turned to Jokku in exasperation.  
"Wha—Jokku! How is that _fair?!_" She whined, and the eldest boy raised an eyebrow.  
"Excuse me? Kass, what—_oh_."  
"Yeah, _oh_."  
When Kassy had first joined up with Jokku, it had just been the two of them. For about a year and a half the duo had wandered around the country, aimlessly picking fights with every Union agent they happened to run into before Sammi had joined them. During that time, Kassandra had asked for a pet dog on several occasions. Jokku always made the excuse that they were always travelling and they wouldn't be able to support a dog at the moment. Even as Naz and Andrew joined the Contradiction, she continued begging him for a puppy. Finally, only a few years back, she'd stopped asking. But apparently that didn't mean that she'd stopped wanting one.  
The waterbender rolled her eyes when Jokku failed to answer.  
"So then I guess that 'we can't care for any animals' only applies to _me_, right?"  
"Well, that's what it looks like," Kye said thoughtfully and Andrew snickered, but Kassandra continued to stare at Jokku.  
"That was before. Now we are more capable of looking after animals because there's more of us and we're older."  
"Oh, so that means that you'll let me get a dog now?" She asked, her tone indicating she already knew the answer.  
Jokku turned away. "Well…"  
The brunette threw her hands up in exasperation, the teal tips of her hair bouncing like a wave.  
"_Of course it doesn't._ I forgot all your 'no's only apply to me." She glared at the firebender murderously before she turned away, marching into the living room. Andrew turned to Jokku, trying hard to suppress a smirk, his eyes telling Jokku '_you're screwed, my friend.'_ Kye seemed happy enough that he wasn't asked to get rid of his pig and was currently trying to sneak out of the room unnoticed. When Kassandra reappeared in the front hall, she had her purse and she was talking to someone on the phone.  
"No, look—just come get me. It's nothing, just—no I'm not paying you to drive me, you're not a cabbie you loser! Yeah, well, I'm not Lynn! Look, if you're not coming, then tell Naz. Alright, fine, where? Whatever, I'll see you there."  
"Where are you going?"  
"_Out_." She snapped, not even bothering to remove the phone from her ear. "And no, I'm not asking you for permission because I already know what you're answer will be."  
"Do you care?"  
"Not really, no!" She shouted, slamming the door behind her. Andrew made a face like he ate a sour lemon and someone had told a funny joke. Jokku picked up an apple and threw it at him.  
"Shut up."

* * *

A.N: Okay, so I'm thinking the next chapter will be the official beginning of the plot structure. Like, up until now, the story has been pretty flux and mostly a little introduction to the characters and their pasts, which, don't get me wrong, are important, but I need to _get a move on already_.  
Also, Kassandra's just being a big baby because she can't bend freely and she's spending her time brooding (ugh Kass, seriously), she'll get over herself. And, come on, a teacup pig :3 You all know you want one.  
Also, I'm getting kinda tired of the whole 'no-bending' thing, so that'll end in the next chapter too.  
So, enjoy! As I said before, I'm going to make the next chapter really significant and not all just the benders goofing off (even though I have so much fun writing about them goofing off)  
Oh, one more thing.  
I love reviews and it'd be reallyyyy epic if you guys gave me your feedback. I love hearing your opinions! It's what I write for :3 (well, also the fact that if I didn't write I probably would have gone crazy by now xD)  
Till next time! x)


End file.
